Hello.

2016 has been conspicuous by our absence. It’s been a hell of a year, one with many ups and many, many downs. It’d be easy to say that the downs of 2016 were to blame for the lack of writing here, that the year was just so shit that I couldn’t take it anymore. That’s not the case, though; as for me, it’s been a pretty great year. It’s the good stuff that has kept me from writing.

I don’t know where to start with the cultural icons we’ve lost this year. I can’t eulogise them all, and even if I did, what more could I say? I could tell you the stories of why Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher are equally important in my headcanon (and I might yet), but in the end, it just hasn’t felt like my place.

One thing I can tell you about this year is that despite all the shit, it has been an excellent year for cinema. So much so that when it came time to figure out my top ten films of the year, I couldn’t get the list lower than 12 (and I narrowed it down from nearly twice that number).

So, in an effort to get going again, let’s close out this year with the 12 best movies of the year, according to yours truly. These are presented in no particular order except for the two that truly stand out as the best of the year.